Careers, Conservation and Nature Youth Workshop

Are you twelve to eighteen years old and interested in learning about careers in the sciences, conservation, and the arts? Or do you have a friend, family member, or student who is? If so, you should consider applying or encourage those you know to apply for a spot in our Careers, Conservation and Nature Workshop for youth this October 24th and 25th! If you are a teacher or mentor to youth, you can also send us a nomination, which you can learn more about below.

At the workshop, you’ll learn about conservation science and what you can do in your neighborhood to make a difference. While visiting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, you and other attendees will be able to talk with and learn from staff in seven different departments of the Lab, including Bioacoustics, Citizen Science, Visual Media, and Evolutionary Biology. This means you might end up banding a Black-capped Chickadee, study the sonogram of a warbler’s song with Macaulay Library experts, or check out museum specimen in our vertebrates collection!

We’re offering full scholarships to low-income teens in the northeastern United States (see a full list of these states here). These scholarships cover travel, accommodation, food, and workshop expenses, and are available to students who are eligible for reduced/free meals at school. We accept both applications from you, the student, or nominations from an educator or chaperone who would like to bring outstanding youth to our attention. You can access the student application form here and the educator/chaperone nomination form here.

We’ll interview all youth and adults who are nominating youth before accepting participants into the program, and we’re looking for students who haven’t had this sort of opportunity before. Our goal is to provide a rich experience that will motivate, excite, and teach youth about opportunities and paths in higher education. We often work with youth who haven’t considered getting a degree beyond high school, or who have never traveled outside of their home city. Many past participants spoke no English (all our programs are bilingual in English and Spanish) or knew nothing about birds; some had dropped out of school, others were highly motivated and were seeking new opportunities, and several were looking for mentors and role models to guide them. We do our best to keep everyone’s interests in mind while satisfying the whole group.

So if you want to experience cutting-edge research, explore how the arts can be used to mobilize communities to engage in conservation, try out Cornell University’s dining hall meals, and meet people like you who are interested in learning more about science and higher education, then apply today! Youth will need to travel to Cornell with an adult chaperone (funds for attendance will be provided, and learn more about chaperone duties here). If you have any questions, please email us at urbanbirds@cornell.edu or call us at 607-254-2455.